Working at UNOPS

Overview

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is the UN system's implementation arm. It delivers infrastructure, procurement and project management services on behalf of other UN entities, governments and donors, and it is self-financed, recovering its costs from the projects it runs.

That business model drives its hiring. Vacancies concentrate in project management, civil and structural engineering, construction supervision, procurement and supply chain, contract and grant management, health and safety, finance, and information management. Many positions are directly tied to the lifetime of a single project, which is why contract durations vary so much between notices.

Delivery is worldwide, with regional and multi-country offices covering Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Duty stations often include post-conflict and reconstruction settings where UNOPS manages infrastructure programmes on behalf of partners.

Organization profile

UNOPS is more operational and more commercially disciplined than most UN entities. Projects have clients, budgets, milestones and service agreements, and staff are accountable for delivery against them. Formal project management credentials such as PRINCE2, PMP or equivalent, appear routinely in requirements, and procurement roles often ask for recognised procurement certification.

Its contract framework has several distinct routes, including fixed-term staff appointments and individual contractor agreements at local and international level. These differ substantially in entitlements and eligibility, so read the modality on the notice carefully rather than assuming a standard UN appointment.

Recruitment at a glance

47 vacancies advertised in the last 12 months in our database.

Grades and levels

Contract types

Where the roles are

How to apply

Apply through the UNOPS jobs portal. Confirm the contract modality and whether the post is local or international before applying, since local positions are restricted to nationals or legal residents of the duty station.

Evidence delivery in project terms: contract values, scope, schedule performance, procurement thresholds and methods, safety records, and the client or donor you delivered for. Engineering and procurement panels look for specifics such as standards applied, works supervised, tenders run, and not general programme narrative.

Selection normally combines a technical assessment or written exercise with a competency-based interview against the UNOPS competency framework. Rosters are used for frequently recruited profiles, so a strong application that misses one post can lead to a later offer.

Salary and conditions

UN Global Jobs does not publish salary, allowance, benefits or contract-condition guidance for UNOPS - United Nations Office for Project Services. Pay and conditions differ by grade, contract type and duty station, and they change over time. The authoritative statements are the ones in the vacancy notice and in the offer made by the organisation, which is where you should verify them. Where a vacancy notice states pay, we reproduce it on the listing; where it does not, ask the recruiting team before making commitments.

Sources

Vacancy figures on this page are calculated from notices published by UNOPS and collected by UN Global Jobs. Organisational facts are taken from UNOPS's own published material.